GEO, University reach tentative agreement; strike suspended

I think I'm starting to agree more with Lori. I feel that I have let down my students, by not giving them the education they deserve. I knew what I was going into by coming back to graduate school. It is not the money that I strive for by getting my doctorate. I want to teach these students, and by striking I believe I have failed at becoming the person I had hoped to be. I saw two of my students, that I had been friendly to in the past, and when they saw me on the quad, they gave be a look of disappointment that I never wish to see again. I'm not planning on being a TA forever, I don't need a luxurious salary and now because of striking I have lost faith from my students. Thanks for the pressure GEO.

It seems that this whole strike nonsense was just pointless. The GEO secured practically nothing by striking. True, they won quite a bit by negotiating: a 3% or so raise for each year of the contract, a guarantee not to be furloughed (though they voluntarily just took a two-day furlough by striking), an increase in health care, and parental leave after childbirth/adoption, but this was all agreed to before the strike. The only thing the actual strike accomplished was a clarification of a policy. I know that I will be promptly excoriated by a number of posters on here telling me how vapid my arguments are, how I must totally hate grad assistants and students, how the GEO won such a great victory over the evil powers that be and generally "stuck it to the man", but it just seems that they wanted to strike just to strike.
Since there really is no dispassionate observer to give objective facts, there is no true way of knowing just what the University's position or intention was for the tuition waivers, but it would seem illogical that the University would eliminate tuition waivers for out-of-state graduate students, or change it to in-state tuition. This would be counterproductive to the University's goal of attracting the best and brightest. Also, I fail to understand how - if the issue with the tuition waivers was only related to out-of-state waivers and the in-state tuition waivers were guaranteed as stated in reports - the GEO came up with the claim that only super-rich students would be able to go to grad school here. If the out-of-state waivers were indeed the sticking point, how does that affect Illinois residents who wish to go to grad school here? Would not the proper argument be that, had the out-of-state waivers not been secured, only Illinois residents and rich out-of-state students would be able to attend UI?
So it would appear that hundreds or over a thousand people stood outside in the rain and cold for two days, potentially getting ill, for a relatively minor gain, as the economics of the contract had already been agreed upon. As a University employee (a little fish Civil Service worker, not anyone with any real power or pull) who works in a building on the Quad, I can say that the strike was mildly annoying from a noise aspect, as it was intended, but wasn't a major inconvenience. I cannot speak from the student aspect, and I don't pretend to, but it would seem that life still went on: some classes were probably canceled, some moved to other locations, some sections, combined, etc, but life generally went on.
Again, I don't hate the GEO or grad assistants, nor do I really have an axe to grind in this fight, just my humble opinion on what I saw occur. I'll now prepare myself to be torn to shreds by the objectors telling me how wrong I am.
Oh, one last thing. I heard today from a picketer that they were told by the UI or the police that they were not allowed to have umbrellas, as they could be construed as weapons. Is this true, and who exactly told the picketers this? I'm just wondering, as this sounds to me like an extreme overreaction and I wonder why no one has brought it up yet. It's not like they were going beat people with umbrellas, or make secret agent guns and poison ball shooters out of their umbrellas.

Something to keep in mind is that the reason that liberal arts grad students are paid very little is because their 'research' doesn't bring in funding, and generally they teach as part time TAs. Part-time TAs = part time salary.

I'm not sure why they seem to expect to receive pay for being students. Where is the money going to come from? If your answer is 'from acting as TA's', then as soon as you are full time TAs, then you can expect a living wage.

Go do something that generates profit; then you can start to expect a living wage. In an ideal world, liberal arts grad students would be paid a decent amount, but no one is providing this funding because they don't benefit society in any way other then general enrichment of knowledge.
This is also why liberal arts grad students can't do anything with their degree other than teach. These areas of study are interesting, but they don't benefit humanity in any way other than general enrichment.

For months the GEO has been whining that they need a 20 percent raise to feed themselves, and now they're going to settle for 3 percent and call it a "victory"? I hope you realize how many credibility points you just flushed down the toilet. Now every time the GEO utters a demand we know that it's almost 700 percent more than you really need. This strategy is acceptable if you're selling a used car but not if you're holding hostage the educational mission of this campus. I wonder how much you even needed the three percent, frankly. I don't exactly see ribs showing on the TAs. This, along with your 11th hour demand for tuition waiver protection (as if "possibilities" are worth striking over) and your decision to strike without three quarters of your members casting a vote, just shows that GEO leadership was intent on striking from the very start no matter what happened. Well congratulations, you just showed 40,000 students what a real labor struggle looks like. Unfortunately for you the result is a giant step backward for unions.

Well I believe that both the University of Illinois Administrators and the GEO are at fault. Administrators should not have been sending massmails of half truths to the student body and the trustees should COMPLETELY remove Herman and White from the payroll. The GEO is at fault for striking. Why bring undergrad students into the fight? Frankly, I do not support the GEO. Every TA I have ever had on campus has stunk. I learned way more from reading textbooks and looking for material online. The GEO needs to realize that they are GRAD STUDENTS. They are not in the real world yet. Their complaining is really ticking me off considering a large segment of the population is unemployed and getting evicted from their homes. I feel bad when the maintenance staff's contract comes up for UIUC. Those people who really need the raises because they are not in school and have a family will most likely face furloughs, layoffs, and other forms of wage garnishment. Of course if this happens you will not hear a peep from the GEO that it is wrong and the most needy of the UIUC employees will be punished. I am so tired of how selfish the majority of society now is. It is all ME, ME, ME, ME. Well grad students, enjoy living in your protective bubble here on campus. Only once you enter the real world will you realize that being a student and TA at UIUC was one of the easiest parts of your life. I have put in 300 job applications and have not gotten hired anywhere yet. The ME attitude and greed is what is killing the United States.

Hope you greedy, sorry excuses for instructors (yes, you people are awful "teachers"), TAs are happy now, but I'm sure next year you'll start crying again. Also next years incoming freshman can thank you TAs for the higher tuition hike this will cause and rest of us undergrads will pay the price from the university cutting our resources (which most of us PAY FOR, unlike you idiots) in order to accommodate you're requests. GREAT JOB TAs!!! I also hope your greed wears off sometime in the future (Though, I assume many of you will be the next Bernie Madoff) and decide to donate back to the school which you are currently fleecing.